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Modays are always a bit hectic around the Phandroid offices, so it’s no wonder we have an extra big helping of the Android Overload for you here tonight. If you’re new around these parts, this is the place where we pool all the stories we come across from throughout our day, the ones that didn’t get the star treatment on our front page. Doesn’t mean they’re bad by any means, in fact — personally, I can’t wait to see what T-Mobile does with that $1 billion in spectrum they’re about to get from AT&T. Go get ’em, tiger!
- MIT receives Google’s App Inventor. Still not ready for primetime. [MIT]
- T-Mobile and AT&T file FCC request for transfer $1 billion in spectrum. [WSJ]
- Google Music app updated in the Market. Bug fixes galore. [Market Link]
- Google lobbying expenses were $9.68 million in 2011. [AllThingsD]
- Droid Incredible 2 now only $10 with a 2 year agreement at Verizon Wireless.
- Google updates their Google+ nickname policy. [Google+]
- Music from Drake, Maroon 5 and Mary J Blige free for limited time. [Google+]
- LG Optimus Black receiving Gingerbread update in India. [AndroidOS.in]
- EDF Energy London Eye installs Galaxy Tab 10.1 for interactive experience. [Pocketlint]
- US Cellular has knocked $100 off the cost of all smartphones. [AndroidGuys]
- Verizon debuts two new TV spots for the LG Spectrum . [VzBuzz]
- Sony Ericsson uses Glonass positioning in their latest phones. [Verge]
- The 16GB Droid RAZR is now available in purple as well as white and black. Price remains $199. [Verizon]
- Verizon has spent $69 million to beef up the 4G LTE coverage around Lucas Oil Stadium, home of this year’s Super Bowl. [DroidLife]
- The Motorola Atrix 4G has received a fairly functional port of CynaogenMod 9. [XDA]
the comedy of tmobile’s statement of “we need spectrum to be competitive” (see WSJ) is the lies of focus on wanting to get money from ATT, and thinking like a dinosaur business (such as microsoft).
the reality of tmobiles statement, and what wasn’t said, is “we jacked up our prices even though our prices *were* competitive previously and stopped carrying good phones” – and this results in losing far more people than the issue of “how good is your LTE?”
You sound like a butt hurt AT&T employee.
1) T-Mobile has the cheapest rates out of Sprint, AT&T and Verizon.
2) LTE isn’t needed for normal cell phone use. It’s pumped up by marketing and all the sheep that think they need to have the fastest connections to browse the net on their cell phones. Which only enables carriers to increase rates for their “fastest in the world” transfer speeds.
2a) What are you going to do with that extra speed? Buy their stupid tether packages so you have a right to say which devices are allowed to use the data you already paid for?
3) keep buying into to their marketing schemes to nickel and dime you for every last penny. You’re just enabling them further.
you are crazy, straight up.
I’m entirely and 100% in support that this merger between them *never*, ever, should have happened. It was illegal, entirely. I was a longterm tmo myfaves +google voice callback fan for probably the last 3 years.
Tmobile used to have the cheapest rates. Now, it’s not really that much of a difference. Wrong. I love how you say that my fact is wrong too, that’s some reality you live in there. What’s it like in crazyland?
LTE is a big deal – we’re talking “reason to cut the home (cable line)/internet service” Replacement if you’re in an area that can use it. Also, every carrier is working on it. This means no more “GSM vs CDMA” where phones simply don’t work on any carrier because of $frequency in the long term and is incredibly substantial. Do you have any idea what that means? Wrong again for you.
If you think I, as a consumer, mean shit when they have franchise agreements and/or a lack of competition, you definitely don’t know anything. I don’t buy into any marketing schemes, but actually you, yourself sound like someone who blindly supports tmobile without even knowing what they do well – which was having the cheapest plans. The new plans with the subsidized phones are an increase in cost, substantially.
You know what TMO does better than everyone else? That you can pay a phone off over months unsubsidized and not part of the plan- which is more affordable than any other carrier offers.
If you knew what nickel and diming was, you’d be fighting back those USF fees so that you aren’t paying them on your plan. I know I’m not paying them for mine. So you, are enabling them further.
in short, go away, and don’t attack someone who makes a comment for no reason without realizing they might actually know what they’re talking about, you moron.
Oh and 2a, which is called the “I’m a troll and can’t come up with an argument so I attack someone else with a question that’s hard to answer” of “how will you use it?
simple examples:
ustream: being able to broadcast a stream live in 1080p without the stream skipping frames/running like crap – great for things like OWS
also youtube: being able to upload that 800MB youtube video in 1080p without it requiring you to be on wifi, and being done in about 20 minutes.
also remote desktop apps, which run infinitely smooth, web browsing – there’s a difference when websites aren’t waiting to load, and app downloads in the market are instantaneous even up to 5-10mb. No progress bar whatsoever, and the market functions much better as a result.
TLDR – You are a tool.
I pay $33 a month for my T-Mobile plan (100 mins, unlimited txt and data). That includes just NY State tax. No other fees.
Your wrong about LTE allowing you to just transfer phones between carriers.. try bringing your AT&T LTE phone to Verizon or vice versa and see how that works.. Saw this one coming way before LTE was implemented.. just won’t happen in the US
I don’t know what your problem is.
The walmart plan only works for specific people not everybody. If other carriers offered a data only plan we would have something to compare but we don’t.
For people who actually have to make calls or have families the plan doesn’t do anything they need. I love how what works for you must work for everybody very realistic, huh.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. T-Mobile’s rates have come crashing down in the past five years at the same time they’ve been improving coverage and network data speeds drastically.
Around 2008 unlimited talk text and data on a smartphone for one person costed: $130 on T-Mobile. Today, $120 on T-Mobile gets you unlimited talk, text, and 10GB of data then throttled. That’s WITH phone subsidy. It’s ONLY $105 for the same thing on a value plan without phone subsidy.
Unlimited Everything today on T-Mobile with 5GB data each for five people on a family plan comes to: $340 or only $68 a person WITH a phone subsidy.
The same thing on a Value Plan comes to: $280 or $56 a person.
It only gets cheaper from there if you don’t need unlimited minutes and do the unlimited calls through WiFi.
With the coverage of data speeds you get on T-Mobile along with WiFi Calling for indoor reception, there is no way to justify Verizon or At&t’s prices.
Personally, I love my Verizon 4G LTE because I travel alot. I rarely have streaming issues with my music (which is all uploaded to Google Music.). Netflix, Youtube etc, all buffer HD fast and playback is smooth. And to top it all off I save $30 a month to tether my xbox, ps3, laptop, whatever because I rooted my phone. :). Sure I don’t have unlimited data, but 10 G’s is good enough for me. Especially considering I only pay 50 a month for it after their holiday promotion. I almost switched to T-Mobile, but my friend always has data issues….and they still use 3G. (Or hspa + but that’s like 3G 2.0 to me)
3G 2.0 is meaningless. So is 3.5G and all that other BS nonsense. What people should really be talking about is performance. 4G (as well as 3G) has always been a marketing term but it does signify a certain level of performance.
When it comes to HSPA+ what most people don’t realize is that different ‘4G’ labeled devices have different modems in it. A good majority of the ones T-Mobile sells are HSPA+ 14. Still faster than your average 3G phone but nothing that knocks it out of the park. Where the HSPA+ 42 devices gives people an LTE like experience. In some cases even beating out speed tests against Verizon LTE. Drastically different than HSPA+ 14 found on the myTouch 4G and the G2.